ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,268,110, issued on April 8, was assigned to The Toro Co. (Bloomington, Minn.).
"Turf aerator" was invented by Joseph W. Pogatchnik III (Waconia, Minn.), Scott A. Thomson (Maple Grove, Minn.), Keith A. Goetz (New Prague, Minn.), Thomas R. Pfingsten (Savage, Minn.), Brian R. Hendrickson (Minneapolis), John R. Kess (Bloomington, Minn.) and Kelly S. Meemken (Savage, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An aerator for a turf surface has a traction control, an OPC bail, and an aeration bail capable of single handed operation. A controller automatically lowers a tine head to begin aerating at a start location marked when the aeration bail is cl...